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We’re doing fine so far. It’s a wild time but none of this is unexpected, or caught us unprepared. This is what investment is for, to help us build up the syste

by pfraze 2y ago

We’re doing fine so far. It’s a wild time but none of this is unexpected, or caught us unprepared. This is what investment is for, to help us build up the system while work towards revenue

jazzyjackson 2y ago
Bsky has a revenue model?
- pfraze 2y ago
  Actually we do have a pilot program going for registering domains via account.bsky.app if that gives you some sense of where our head’s at
  - xelamonster 2y ago
    You're becoming a domain registrar? Well I'm not sure that'll solve revenue but it's certainly interesting, I'd like to read more about the reasoning behind this if you have any posts or articles on it yet. Would also love to check out the code for a bsky-style registrar backend if that's open source :)
    - jazzyjackson 2y ago
      Registrar is namecheap @ a $5 premium. I think its not a bad price for users who don't want to muck about with DNS TXT records. https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-namecheap https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-namecheap https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-business-plan https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-business-plan
      - xelamonster 2y ago
        Thanks! Well I love mucking about with DNS TXT records so it's not for me then :). But Namecheap is my go-to registrar so I'm sure it'll be solid enough, hope it works out!
      - xelamonster 2y ago
        Could totally beat Namecheap on search and provide good value there, I like theirs better than most but most are awful and theirs isn't amazing still, let me find name options I wouldn't find on other registrar searches and I'd happily pay a $5 premium.
  - xelamonster 2y ago
    Oh and obviously this is super early and you'd probably fix this on your own anyways but a quick note since I checked out the interface: you should disable autocorrect/autocomplete on the search form input. When I type a domain on my phone it inserts a space after the period and the search fails.
- wpietri 2y ago
  Not sure why people are downvoting this. I think it's a good question for any startup, but especially one with millions of users that are going to be real sad if it turns out to be unsustainable.
  - jazzyjackson 2y ago
    I get it, my phrasing is pointed, but I rather ask directly and get a discussion than be polite and not get an answer (to pfraze's credit he would have answered honestly whether my phrasing was rude or not) IMO reselling domains is not going to do it, but not a bad start to selling services Personally I'd pay $5 a month if I was able to use my PDS as a backup for all my photos and media, like a Dropbox or OneDrive. That's a pretty commoditized service but it would be nice to serve content without having to worry about the embed disappearing. I remember another Twitter clone getting traction had trouble on boarding musicians because they would try and embed YouTube links of their own music but their label disabled embeds! Did I see something about bsky dipping their toes in bandcamp's market? I think that's all a lot of artists want, a host for their media that actually distributes posts to followers (unlike Facebook, who holds your own fans ransom and doesn't show posts to all of them unless you pay to "boost" it)
wpietri 2y ago
I'm sympathetic, of course. I was part of a startup that iterated for a couple of years on a social thing looking for revenue, so I know the semi-delusional level of hope that any startup requires before you find product-market fit. I agree that's one thing investment is used for. But another thing it's used for is to prop up things that never find a revenue model until the lack of money forces people to swallow some hard pills. Bluesky's been going quite a while for not having a proven revenue model. And it's not like it's the only social media company ever; this is a space that has been well explored over decades. So the lack of it in any social media startup these days seems pretty glaring to me.
- pfraze 2y ago
  Toss it on the pile
  - wpietri 2y ago
    That is a pretty glib response, and disappointing in that you aren't grappling with the negative externalities of this approach. I also think the reflexive dismissiveness is a sign that Bluesky is not really taking the problem seriously, even internally. Which is exactly what I'd expect from the external behavior. And I get it! Building products is way more fun than building businesses. But as somebody who has put a number of years into things that turned out to be unsustainable, I encourage all startup people to at least try to avoid the "me sowing/me reaping" ride.
    - pfraze 2y ago
      I didn’t mean to come off as dismissive, really I was trying to voice that part which we’ve both been through, the endless stack of existential concerns that you have to get comfortable with in this job. I’m actually quite acutely concerned about revenue and spending a fair amount of my time preparing for our answer; I’m just not at liberty to share our plans yet, so I went for the shorter response. I know you’re concerned. I hope we find a good answer!
      - 2y ago

by pfraze 2y ago

We’re doing fine so far. It’s a wild time but none of this is unexpected, or caught us unprepared. This is what investment is for, to help us build up the system while work towards revenue

jazzyjackson 2y ago

Bsky has a revenue model?

pfraze 2y ago
Actually we do have a pilot program going for registering domains via account.bsky.app if that gives you some sense of where our head’s at
- xelamonster 2y ago
  You're becoming a domain registrar? Well I'm not sure that'll solve revenue but it's certainly interesting, I'd like to read more about the reasoning behind this if you have any posts or articles on it yet. Would also love to check out the code for a bsky-style registrar backend if that's open source :)
  - jazzyjackson 2y ago
    Registrar is namecheap @ a $5 premium. I think its not a bad price for users who don't want to muck about with DNS TXT records. https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-namecheap https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-namecheap https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-business-plan https://bsky.social/about/blog/7-05-2023-business-plan
    - xelamonster 2y ago
      Thanks! Well I love mucking about with DNS TXT records so it's not for me then :). But Namecheap is my go-to registrar so I'm sure it'll be solid enough, hope it works out!
    - xelamonster 2y ago
      Could totally beat Namecheap on search and provide good value there, I like theirs better than most but most are awful and theirs isn't amazing still, let me find name options I wouldn't find on other registrar searches and I'd happily pay a $5 premium.
- xelamonster 2y ago
  Oh and obviously this is super early and you'd probably fix this on your own anyways but a quick note since I checked out the interface: you should disable autocorrect/autocomplete on the search form input. When I type a domain on my phone it inserts a space after the period and the search fails.
wpietri 2y ago
Not sure why people are downvoting this. I think it's a good question for any startup, but especially one with millions of users that are going to be real sad if it turns out to be unsustainable.
- jazzyjackson 2y ago
  I get it, my phrasing is pointed, but I rather ask directly and get a discussion than be polite and not get an answer (to pfraze's credit he would have answered honestly whether my phrasing was rude or not) IMO reselling domains is not going to do it, but not a bad start to selling services Personally I'd pay $5 a month if I was able to use my PDS as a backup for all my photos and media, like a Dropbox or OneDrive. That's a pretty commoditized service but it would be nice to serve content without having to worry about the embed disappearing. I remember another Twitter clone getting traction had trouble on boarding musicians because they would try and embed YouTube links of their own music but their label disabled embeds! Did I see something about bsky dipping their toes in bandcamp's market? I think that's all a lot of artists want, a host for their media that actually distributes posts to followers (unlike Facebook, who holds your own fans ransom and doesn't show posts to all of them unless you pay to "boost" it)

wpietri 2y ago

I'm sympathetic, of course. I was part of a startup that iterated for a couple of years on a social thing looking for revenue, so I know the semi-delusional level of hope that any startup requires before you find product-market fit. I agree that's one thing investment is used for. But another thing it's used for is to prop up things that never find a revenue model until the lack of money forces people to swallow some hard pills. Bluesky's been going quite a while for not having a proven revenue model. And it's not like it's the only social media company ever; this is a space that has been well explored over decades. So the lack of it in any social media startup these days seems pretty glaring to me.

pfraze 2y ago
Toss it on the pile
- wpietri 2y ago
  That is a pretty glib response, and disappointing in that you aren't grappling with the negative externalities of this approach. I also think the reflexive dismissiveness is a sign that Bluesky is not really taking the problem seriously, even internally. Which is exactly what I'd expect from the external behavior. And I get it! Building products is way more fun than building businesses. But as somebody who has put a number of years into things that turned out to be unsustainable, I encourage all startup people to at least try to avoid the "me sowing/me reaping" ride.
  - pfraze 2y ago
    I didn’t mean to come off as dismissive, really I was trying to voice that part which we’ve both been through, the endless stack of existential concerns that you have to get comfortable with in this job. I’m actually quite acutely concerned about revenue and spending a fair amount of my time preparing for our answer; I’m just not at liberty to share our plans yet, so I went for the shorter response. I know you’re concerned. I hope we find a good answer!
    - 2y ago